{"id":7075,"date":"2016-12-01T23:47:59","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T23:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fixmyinfo.com\/?p=7075"},"modified":"2016-12-01T23:50:38","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T23:50:38","slug":"consumer-citations-future-local-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fixmyinfo.com\/consumer-citations-future-local-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer citations are the future of local SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"
In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), a citation is a direct mention of a specific brand within an online platform. Some of the more\u00a0common examples of online citations are comments published within a community blog about a\u00a0favorite local coffee shop or an unpleasant\u00a0experience working with a franchise outlet.<\/p>\n
Citations serve as contextual forms of content that are recognized and indexed by search crawlers.\u00a0On a local level, citations have the ability to\u00a0improve organic visibility\u00a0for small businesses and community brands alike.<\/p>\n
Consumers mentioning a local brand within\u00a0an online platform can offer a number of benefits that ultimately allow small businesses to increase their visibility\u00a0within each major search engine.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
Google and other major search engines have designed their\u00a0algorithms to be able to detect and attribute value based on the type of messaging that surrounds a brand.<\/p>\n
When online consumers publish content in the form of comments or reviews, search engines are able to crawl this information and use it to help them assess how valuable a particular business is\u00a0for other like-minded consumers.<\/p>\n
When local businesses provide experiences that elicit positive online reviews, they can catalyze word-of-mouth marketing across social networks and other user-generated content websites.<\/p>\n
Online\u00a0consumers are more likely to engage with a local business if they have attracted positive reviews from other like-minded consumers.\u00a0In fact,\u00a074 percent of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more, according to a recent report offered\u00a0by BrightLocal<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Businesses can earn positive reviews or citations by continuously providing an experience that aligns with the intentions of the target\u00a0audience and satisfies their specific needs.<\/p>\n Structured citations are\u00a0fundamental points of information about a business that include their name, address and phone number. Most local SEO strategists refer to this as \u201cNAP.\u201d<\/p>\n Maintaining current\u00a0NAP information and ensuring that details are in sync across all existing platforms is important for search engines and their ability to provide\u00a0consumers a meaningful\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As seen above, structured citations often provide\u00a0consumers with unique information that allows them to understand how they should react next. Although most JCPenney locations are open on Thanksgiving Day, this particular store was not, which is clearly noted because of how well they maintain\u00a0their NAP information.<\/p>\n Unstructured citations\u00a0provide the same points of information about a particular business, only they are not consistent with one another. In the screen shots below, the business\u2019s information is correct; it\u2019s just not in sync.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nSearch engines understand structured citations<\/h2>\n